Saturday, July 18, 2009

The Engagement Theory

This Engagement Theory (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999) can be described as a process of collaborative learning. Its main focus is through three components: Relate-Create-Donate, which refer to the use of teams and groups in learning experiences; project-based activities and providing content which has a relevance to the students lives (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

This theory has many similarities to other prominent learning theories, in particular the Dimensions of Learning (Marzano et al., 1997). For example, the Donate concept which encourages an authentic learning focus, is directly related to Dimension 1 which emphasises the importance of having students develop positive attitudes and perceptions to classroom tasks by producing tasks which they interpret as valuable and interesting (Marzano et al., 1997, p. 30).

I myself, having been in many classrooms over the past 10 years, both as a school student and a student teacher, have observed that indeed, these concepts of collaboration do, in most cases, enhance the learning of the students. The interest levels of students increase when they are able to assist in the development of their projects and indeed the behaviour of students improves when they are interested in a topic.

However even with all these theories and suggestions for effective teaching and learning, in many cases, the difficulty still lies in the process of finding new and exciting ways of presenting students with the essential knowledge such as basic numeracy and literacy. Although, with the introduction of more and more technology in classrooms, this too is getting easier.


Kearsley, G., Shneiderman, G. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Marzano, R. J., Pickering D. J., Arredondo D. E., Blackburn G. J., Brandt R. S., Moffett C. A., Paynter D. E., Pollock J. E., & Whisler J. S., et al. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teachers Manual. Colorado, USA: ASCD.

2 comments:

  1. I definitely agree with your comment that the difficulty in teaching and learning is the process of finding new and exciting ways of presenting students with essential knowledge, and although many students are technology savvy and digital natives I do wonder that if the majority of teaching and learning occurs by using technology products, whether or not the students will eventually become disengaged when these products are used within their learning environments.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You make an excellent point Krystal. And indeed some students are far more difficult to engage than others, and technology will not always make it easier. But i suppose all we can do is make sure we're catering for these students one way or another. Thanks for your feedback :)

    ReplyDelete